The viral petition started by Nathan Coflin of Portsmouth, Va., has attracted more than 22,000 supporters since he posted it on change.org Saturday, Aug. 19. The goal is to gain 25,000 signatures to present to city officials.

“We believe it is time to finally replace the Confederate monument in Olde Towne Portsmouth, Va., near the intersection of Court and High streets with a new statue of a true Portsmouth native hero,” Coflin’s letter to Mayor John L. Rowe, Vice Mayor Paige Cherry and four council members began. “Who better to encapsulate the culture and spirit of the city enshrined in a new monument than Grammy Award-winning rapper, dancer and record producer Missy ‘Misdemeanor’ Elliott?”

“Together, we can put white supremacy down, flip it and reverse it,” he concluded, adding that the rapper is “is everything the Confederacy was not.”

Coflin, who told The Washington Post he is a history buff and longtime fan of the MC’s, said he didn’t expect the petition to attract the attention that it has.

“I thought it was kind of a pipe dream,” he said to the publication. “But the more it got out there and the more exposure it’s getting, the more I think it’s a real possibility. People are taking it seriously. Whether the Portsmouth City Council will take it seriously is another matter.”

For now, many who aren’t in the City Council or in Virginia — where a deadly incident at a white supremacist rally last weekend has led Charlottesville, Va., Mayor Michael Signer to reconsider his stance on Confederate monuments — have applauded Coflin’s efforts.